Anti-gang unit off to a flying start, says delighted Cele

“Furthermore, we are also engaging the Department of Correctional Services in monitoring gang-related activities of the ‘number gang’ inmates – namely 26s, 27s and 28s – and to share common information with us,” he said.

“The objective with the establishment of [the gang unit] is to create a new normal… where our children are allowed to be children, to be safe and secure, and women are respected, protected and validated as women.

“Children must feel safe to jump around in the streets and parks, with ropes and balls, and not jump around to dodge gangster bullets.”

Cele said his address was dedicated to victims of gender-based violence, “a bubbly six-year-old who was killed in Mitchells Plain and one-year-old Taswell Junior Nel from Cafda Village in Steenberg, who was shot and killed by a member of the JFKs gang”.

On Tuesday, the SA Police Union said it had withdrawn an application it launched in the Labour Court in Johannesburg over the establishment of the gang unit. General secretary Tumelo Mogodiseng said this was after police management conceded it had failed to consult all stakeholders before launching the unit.